Since the 2010 landmark Citizens United Supreme Court decision, PACs created to either elect or defeat candidates can receive unlimited donations from corporations, individuals and unions—without having to disclose donor names.

Critics say these powerful crops of funds — often dubbed ‘dark money’ — have an increasingly unchecked influence over our elections. Michigan election director Chris Thomas is the longest serving state elections director in the country. He tells Detroit Today host Stephen Henderson that as a result, public cynicism is at an all-time high.

“If officeholders make decisions, and the special interests that fund those office owners are not known, I think that’s a real problem,” he says.

Thomas has shepherded elections under both Democratic and Republican secretaries of state for the last 36 years. He says both parties are complicit.

Rick Pluta/MPRN

Retiring Michigan Elections Director Chris Thomas

“Republicans will defend campaign funding while Democrats often criticize non-disclosure—but they’re right in there raising the money and using the money,” he says.

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